Va. to Bar In-State Rates For Illegal Immigrants

Legislators in the Republican-dominated legislature found enough
votes to pass the veto-proof bill and reject Mr. Warner's proposed
amendments that would have softened the bill's effects.

Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, a Republican, argued that if
military families stationed in Virginia can't receive the lower tuition
rates, then neither can people living there unlawfully.

Gov. Warner pushed for amendments that would have allowed young
people who had lived in the state for five years, whose families had
paid state taxes for three years, and who were applying for proper
immigrant status to be eligible for in-state tuition.

Ellen Qualls, the governor's spokeswoman, said the GOP-led bill was
mean-spirited and would affect a few hundred students each year. She
said the military-family argument was an empty one, because those
families can tap in-state rates if they live in Virginia longer than a
year.

—Alan Richard

Vermont Sued Over Ban On Religious School Aid

Backed by a Washington-based law center that has played a key role
in advancing school vouchers, a group of Vermont parents has sued to
overturn a state ban on providing public funds for students to attend
religious schools.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Vermont, is the
latest salvo in a long-running legal war in the state over
"tuitioning," the practice of paying the tuition of students in
communities without public schools to attend private ones.

Vermont's policy of prohibiting tuition payments to schools with
religious affiliations was upheld by the state supreme court in 1999.
But the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm
in Washington that was also involved in that earlier case, argues in
the new lawsuit that the ban violates the U.S. Constitution's
protection of freedom of religion and guarantee of equal protection
under the law.

The new suit, filed March 20, is part of a broader push by the
Institute for Justice to challenge state bans on public aid to
religious schools.

The institute's effort was spurred by last summer's U.S. Supreme
Court ruling upholding the Cleveland voucher program, and has so far
involved two lawsuits filed last fall: one aimed at Maine's tuitioning
policies and another challenging Washington state's constitutional
restrictions on public aid for religious schools. (Latest Front for Fight on
Choice: Washington State," Oct. 2, 2002.)

—Caroline Hendrie

City Sues to Overturn Mass. Charter Approval

City officials in North Adams, Mass., have filed a lawsuit against
the state education department challenging the approval of a charter
school there.

The lawsuit, filed March 25 in Berkshire Superior Court in
Pittsfield, represents the first time that the opening of a charter
school is being challenged under a clause of the state constitution
that prohibits public money from going to schools that are not
controlled by "public agents" such as local school boards.

Known as the anti-aid amendment, the clause has been used in the
past to prohibit students from using vouchers to attend private
schools.

In February, the state board of education approved a charter school
for 6th through 12th grade in North Adams despite widespread opposition
from the community. Plaintiffs in the suit include the city of North
Adams and the city's school board.

North Adams Mayor John Barrett III, who is also the chairman of the
school board, said the charter would drain money from the district. He
maintains that the larger issue is who has the authority to set
education policy.

The suit alleges that some state school board members had conflicts
of interest in voting to open the charter school because of their
affiliations with the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank that
trained the charter school's founder.

—John Gehring

Ohio Sees Bright Future For its Schools, Poll Finds

As Ohio's schools grapple with shrinking education aid, a new
statewide poll finds most Buckeye State residents believe their schools
have a promising future.

The third annual "Ohio's Education Matters" poll, conducted by the
KnowledgeWorks Foundation, an education philanthropy based in
Cincinnati, was released last month. The poll assessed the attitudes
and concerns of 800 residents in November and December and has a
standard sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

Of those polled, 60 percent believe Ohio's schools are headed in the
right direction, though 72 percent believe schools can't improve unless
residents get involved.

"The poll gives voice to one of the most important players in
quality education: the Ohio public," said Chad P. Wick, the president
and chief executive officer of KnowledgeWorks.

The poll found that 71 percent of respondents believe residents
should take part in the planning for new and renovated school
facilities for which $23 billion in state and local funds has been
earmarked.

Support for the school building levy jumps from 47 percent to 65
percent if new schools include multipurpose facilities that can be used
year-round and after school hours. More than 75 percent of respondents
prefer high schools with fewer than 400 students over those with more
than 1,000 students.

—Karla Scoon Reid

School Readiness Varies, Maryland Report Says

More than half of Maryland's kindergartners are fully prepared for
their first year of school, a slight increase over last year, the state
reports.

But the gap in school readiness between racial, ethnic, and
socioeconomic groups is still wide, says the report released last
month. For example, the readiness gap between low-and middle-income
students is 18 percentage points. The gap between
limited-English-proficient students and English-speakers is 16
percentage points.

"The data confirm what educators have already known," Nancy S.
Grasmick, the state schools superintendent, said in a statement. "There
are enormous disparities in young children's skill levels even before
they come to school."

Overall, 52 percent of Maryland's kindergartners had the literacy,
social, and mathematical skills they need to succeed in kindergarten, 3
percentage points over the 2001-02 school year.

But 7 percent of this year's class need "considerable instructional
support and intervention" to make it through kindergarten, found the
report, which summarized teachers' evaluations of all students in the
state.

—David J. Hoff

Vol. 22, Issue 30, Page 24

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